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i will ask next time, do not rely on airtours ,my travel to give you leg room.

if your booking extra legroom on a 330 going to las vegas or anywhere where they use a 330 check which seats they give you my wife and i paid £70 to come back from vegas at 5.30 pm (2 hours delay) and with the 8hours for the clock to go forward we booked the leg room to get some sleep. guess what we had none they gave us seats 9g & 9h we had plenty of leg room but the width was smaller we reckon about 18 ins i am 36 waist and i was touching the sides and it was tight but this is the best bit i am 52" chest so the seats are for people with 36" chest so you can guess where the other 4 1/2 of each side of my chest went over each side of the other seats,but the seat by the window is even smaller with limited leg room if you have your right leg missing you are ok the man who sat here was 48" chest my wife was trying to lean in the walkway to give me more room but when the started coming with the trollys she moved in and i had to sit forward, oh yes ! the arm rest are fixed that means we could not put them up to give us more room.in the end i sat on the trolly dollys seat which is up right no arm rest but i had some elbow room the person in charge ask why i was sitting on the air hostess seat and i told him 52 does not go into 36 then it took me 5 mins for him to understand what i was on about in the end he let me stay there, i was supose to go back to my seat to eat my meal we had no chance of the three of us eating so i did without and stayed where i was and gave them the room to eat, in all the the of us never got any sleep but i got to know the man who sat by me very well and he never paid anymoney for his extra leg room, when i booked the seats they answered the phone right away but when i was writing this i rang to get the email address to complain and it took over 34 minutes for them to answer the phone what a difference when they want you to book something and take money off you.

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I am writing this review as I have had an unpleasant experience with the holiday company Airtours as I had a holiday booked with them and found out 18 days before travel that the flight was CANCELLED and was offered an alternative airport. As I am from Newcastle the airport is close-by where as Manchester Airport is not even close, but was offered £30 compensation to change to Manchester as this would cost more that the compensation offered.As I was part of a group of travellers on this holiday somebody in the group is taking a 4 month old baby so the distance to travel to manchester would be a lot to Manchester.The group have sent emails to Airtours and mande telephone calls but we have no satisfaction as they refused to transfer the holiday from Summer brochure to Winter brochure.We were unhappy with the tour operator that we had to make an alternative holiday with another travel agent as with Going Places hahaha we were Going Nowhere.

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They organised our wedding for us in Austria. The wedding was held in Zell am See, our hotel was the Heitzmann. It was absolutely flawless in the planning and organisation. Everything was brilliant. From the beginning, all the required paperwork - eg birth certificates, certifcate from the local (UK) registrar (saying we were free to marry), sworn statement before the solicitor, passport information was outlined with clarity. Airtours were very particular about having the documentation well in advance to ensure no hiccoughs. We asked for the wedding for 1st June which couldn't be guaranteed as it depended on how many other weddings had already been requested for that day. The hotel limits them to 2 a day which makes the day extra special. Don't be put off thinking there are lots of weddings -sometimes weeks go by without having any and at other times there can be 6 a week. We were lucky that we got the 1st June for the wedding day. My bouquet and my husband's button hole were included in the price as was all the administration, special meal, breakfast in bed the following morning! and they organised all our additional flowers. We got married on the lake on a wooden steamer which was an unusual but fabulous venue with an Austrian band.The wedding was in English and very simple - you only have to say yes! We had sparkling wine on board, followed by a photographs - they'll organise a photographer for you. We then returned to the hotel for a meal with our families and friends. We stayed in the hotel - wedding suite for a week and then moved on to Kitzbuhel for a second week. For what is supposed to be one of the most stressful times of your life - we couldn't have been more relaxed as every detail was addressed. As we were so impressed with Airtours, we've had 2 cruises (Caribbean and Med) and to Turkey, Paris and Madeira with them- never experiencing any problems.

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Lies

I am writing to inform you not only of the wrongly described destination that we were given on our holiday to Tenerife, but also of the somewhat manipulative and downright rude attitude of the representative (known as Simon) who we had the displeasure to have to arrange a transfer with from our hotel (loosely described), Florida Plaza, Puerto Cruz to the Oro Negro, in Playa Las Americas. When booking the Holiday I distinctly asked for a holiday resort on the south of the Island (Tenerife). I made it perfectly clear when booking the holiday, through yourselves that I would only be interested in being placed in either Los Christianos, Playa Las Americas or at a push, Los Gigantes. The reason for this is due to the climate in Tenerife at this time of year. Now when talking to your representative on the telephone she assured me that it would be in the South of the Island, although she did confirm she would be unable to say which hotel or resort (By this I take it she meant the resort in the South). We even discussed Taxi fares from the airport to Playa Las Americas, and that it wasn?t worth paying transfers, as a taxi was similar to the fare you requested for your coach transfers, and she agreed that it was best to get a taxi. The two main resorts in the North of the Island, Puerto de la Cruz and Santa Cruz, were of some considerable distance further, and the fact that this was my fourth visit to the Island, a fact I would have been well aware of when booking the holiday through yourselves. The main reason for taking this holiday was to ensure my wife had a break from the stressful environment she was experiencing at work due to the fact that the building had been sold and she was to be made redundant along with 500 of her work colleagues. I have always booked my holidays direct with the travel company as I have learnt from past experience that paying the bit extra is always worth the professional back up that you may need when yo u arrive at your resort. Alas, this was not to be, as a catalogue of what can be deemed as unscrupulous methods and information that was not only untrue, but also utterly ridiculous and unbecoming of any company that calls itself respectable. Arriving at the airport, the first of the many blunders we were to become victims of commenced. The representative of your company who was informing us of which hotel we were to go to informed us that we were to stay at the Florida Plaza, a hotel I was not familiar with, but there are so many in the area, I did not expect to know them all. When enquiring further, for information such as resort etc, she informed me that she was sorry, but she had forgot her glasses and she was only new with the company. I asked her where we could find out and she said got to bus X15 and they would be able to tell me there. Somewhat bewildered, as we did not have a transfer, my wife and I made our way to the bus pick up point, but could find no bus X15. We were not alone though, half a dozen couples were also scouring the car park before we all realised that the bus we were looking for must be 415, not X15! Maybe the glasses excuse was genuine, but I feel differently about that, as I do with anything an Airtours Rep tells me. When a different rep came on the bus, he went through the list and explained where people were going. He came to us and informed us we were going to Puerto de la Cruz (aptly named Puerto de la Snooze after a brief walk around the place!) I immediately protested and explained that we had booked for a resort on the South of the Island, not the North! He checked my tickets and informed me that they were Allocation on arrival, which meant that they could allocate us a resort on arrival! Well knock me over with a budgies feather! Is that really what allocation on arrival meant? You live and learn. I explained to him that we were distinctly told that we ha d chosen to pay for an allocation on the South of the Island, and not the cheaper choice of the North. I wanted to disembark myself, my wife and our luggage straight away, but he intervened and said that when we got to the hotel the Airtours representative would sort it out for us. Turning to my wife, I could see she was starting to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing and that on a coach full of people who were just wanting to get to there hotels for a rest. W decided to follow his advice and not get out and sort it out there and then. BIG MISTAKE! Arriving at the hotel (again, loosely described) we checked in our bags and went to the room. Talk about basic, described as three stars, but they were the ones you could see through the cracks in the ceiling! I have stayed in better travel lodges on the M6! The balcony was a laugh and then some! I could not get my foot onto the balcony unless I turned it sideways, and that is not an exaggeration. I never had a tape measure with me, however I would estimate a length of no more than 8 inches. So unless I was a supermodel, I somehow doubt if I had stayed the allotted 7 days in this place, romantic evenings sipping sangria whilst watching glorious sunsets would have been on our agenda. Enough! I walked down to the reception to discuss our predicament with the Representative, only to find there was not one there, nor would they be until 11.15 the next day. Why was I not surprised? We went out on the town that evening with our cases unpacked and our moods not that of the relaxed state we hoped to be in by now, but under a dark cloud of disappointment that we felt, not just by the inferior hotel accommodation, but more the lack of professionalism that we had been shown by a reputable company such as Airtours (My Travel). Morning came with a slightly better buzz of anticipation, with myself promising my wife that it was a genuine mistake and that it w ould be put right by the rep when he arrived at 11.15. Oh if only I had been right! 11.30 came, no rep. I called the Customer Service representative, who I must say was very courteous, so I felt I might get somewhere here. Alas, it was not to be. She had to liase with Tenerife, as she was based in Palma, Majorca! Therefore I had to stay on hold until she checked all the info. Tenerife informed her that I had to deal directly with the rep and that they could not help me. I enquired where the rep was, and she said that he would be there at 16:30 that afternoon. ?No way!? I said, ?I want it resolved now!? The girl on the end of the phone informed me that she was powerless to do anything about it, as I had to sort it out there. Adamant, I insisted that they got the rep to me now. I was placed on hold while she contacted Tenerife office again, and she informed me he was at the Florida Hotel, not the Florid Plaza, some 10 minutes away, uphill from where I was. I legged it up the hill to meet him, only to arrive at the hotel, out of breath and extremely hot, to find that he had not been there either! I ran back to the phone to be met with apologies from the customer rep but that she still couldn?t help. By now I was completely fed up. My wife was still in the hotel room, packed and waiting to go to Playa Las Americas, I was tired and frustrated but the situation was no nearer a suitable ending. I offered to pay for a hotel in Playa Las Americas and claim the money back when I arrived home, but I was told that she could not do this, which begged the question, just what can a customer representative do? Just then, a fellow ?inmate? from the hotel tapped me on the shoulder and told me that the rep was actually in the hotel now! Aha, a break through. Now, I have met some people in my time who make you feel that you are as welcome as an ex-wife at a wedding , but this guy should have been on salesmen from hell. (His name was Simon) Ignoring any question other than ?Can I book an excursion with you please?? he managed to insult the intelligence of anyone who actually thought that Playa Las Americas had the makings of a decent holiday resort. Firstly, he informed us that it was less classy, and that all that happened in the place were rapes and drugs! Checking your own brochures (although I am sure you don?t have to) can you give me the reference to Good places to get raped and drugged please? He then said that Puerto de la Snooze had more bars than Playa Las Americas. Em, forgive my numerical inaccuracy here, but if I was to conduct a head count of establishments serving alcohol in either resort, what odds would you, or anyone else for that matter, give me on P.D.L Snooze winning? I thought so. ?I have been to Orlando for the last 18 months? he informed us ?and I am use to a better style of living!? Excuse me while we all bow down to your obvious higher class of lifestyle! Now as it happens, it was not just myself who had this problem, but 4, yes 4 other couples had been told the same as myself when booking their holidays. ?Ah? replied Simon, Your Representative, ?They tell you anything to get your booking though, and who did you book with?? YOU He went very red at that point and told us to wait in reception while he finished his hard sell excursion pitch. After many alleged calls, he informed the GROUP (there were now 10 of us) that he could not get in touch with the office as the phones were down. He then said he would be back tomorrow to sort it out. This almost caused a riot, as ten extremely unhappy people bawled in unison ?NO WAY HOSE!? After a few minutes he promised that he would sort it out today and come back at 17:15. We accepted this, but only after he refused to a llow us to go to the office in Playa Las Americas and sort it out there with him. The first decent thing of our holiday happened then, we all went to a bar to wait for him. Good to his word, he showed up at 17:10 and shouted over to us?? ?You have five minutes to get into the hotel or you lose it!? He wasn?t wrong, lose it I nearly did, but not the holiday. How dare the arrogant person (for want of better words) speak to us like that! The group had nominated me as their spokesman for some strange reason, and I did not disappoint. He said ?You can stay at the Oro Negro for £150 a couple, take it or leave it!? The group instead of allowing me to be spokesman were now trying to stop me from explaining the fundamentals of courtesy and decency to this horrible excuse for a human. ?You have to give it to me in cash as well? he said. That when I lost it with him and demanded to know why it had to be paid in cash and not credit card. He backed down when I confronted him and said he would take a ?manual? credit card slip. I have had many experiences with holiday company?s, few of them bad, but I have never, ever had to pay twice to go to the place I was promised. I have never been spoken to in that manner before, not even by the touts selling timeshares on a street corner. (A job I recommend that you encourage Simon to take up) Never have I felt so let down by a major company or any of their representatives. Simon actually ran out of the hotel when he finished. I guess he was late for an appointment or something. To cap the day off we had to pay our own taxis from P.D.L. Snooze to Playa Las Americas, a cost of £60. So all in all, a holiday that we thought was paid for turned out to be some £210 extra, a major chunk of our holiday budget. Once we got over the fact that incompetent had ruined the first two days of our holiday, unp rofessional charlatans, w e succumbed to the rapist and druggies who were so obviously rife on every street corner of playa Las Americas. The fact that we walked along all stretches of road/beach at all hours with only the odd lookee-lookee man trying to flog you an impressive Rolex for the price of a plate of mixed tapas, we were so disappointed not to see this exciting Miami Vice resort that Simon had so thoughtfully described to us. Okay, so what am I saying? Simple. I feel not only let down by you, but also cheated out of two days of my holiday and £210 (The price of the hotel and the transfer by Taxi from resort to resort). I would like you to contact me immediately with an idea of how you intend to put right not only my faith in you as a company, but also return to me the amount I had to pay to carry on a holiday that your representative and Tenerife Office tried so hard to spoil. I await your reply before contacting ABTA or whoever oversee the rights of a consumer within the travel industry. Angus & Sherry Reid Update: We finally gave in with this as our solicitor advised us that because the transaction of our telephone call had been ?lost? and we had no proof as to being told any of the information that they could place us anywhere they want on the Island. My advice to you is in the title, don?t be a mug and fall for their crap like I did.

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We booked a weeks SC at a 3* resort La Planada in Costa Derada, Spain during half term last September. The accommodation and resort was fine however.... When we booked we were told we were entitled to free tickets to a theme park and we should collect them from our rep in resort ? When we asked about the tickets we were told we were wrong ? yet in the next hotel he gave out free tickets? We were left to our own devices at the airport (1 Rep 8 coaches) when I asked what coach we were on the rep replied ?I?m too busy? and walked away? When we finally got to our hotel we had to pay £50 deposit which was refunded at the end but no one had said about the deposit and this caused one young couple, obviously on a tight budget, considerable financial embarrassment (we paid for them) On the last full day of our holiday we booked to go to the market despite getting up early on the Sunday to catch the coach on time it left without us. The rep who had her 3 children on the coach tried to make out we were late despite half the coach party saying we were correct. When I phoned the ?help? desk I was told there was nothing they could do as we were leaving the next day and I would have to pursue the matter in the UK. I have written 3 letters to 3 different addresses given to me by airtours/mytravel The reply I got said ?We apologise for any inconvenience caused? No mention of reimbursement for my costs or compensation for the disappointment and distress caused. I have now written to ABTA ?cos I won?t lie down n go away like they hope I will!!! Will I use Airtours again? Only if I can walk to Spain or Hell freezes over...

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"amendments fees from £15-25 per person"

I'm at boiling point over Airtours and their so called Holiday Plus. I booked with them to go to Austria in September 2002. In the brochure it lists all the extras you will get by booking Plus rather than the economy plan. It mentions if you wish to amend your holiday it can be done "free" as long as its outside of 8 weeks. Right, because hubby has to go into hospital just 2 days before the holiday's due, we thought it's best to amend the holiday to a later date! Sounds simple? Well, went into my local travel agency, they phoned Airtours to ask them to amend to the Winter Sun brochure. We thought it best to go next April instead, but OH NO we can't do that!!! The holiday must be within the same season!!! What's happend to the Plus benefits then? It's not worth the paper it's printed on. I threatened them with trading standards and ABTA, next it was I'll talk to the supervisor. Anyway finally, they would only amend for a £30 amendment fee! (2x£15) It was that or lose our deposit. This is my first and LAST booking with them, these plus hols are a con, the holidays in the brochure are over inflated prices anyway. Airtours want you to believe they are then giving you a great discount when you see the discounts appear on the travel agents' screen. I really feel conned with them, NEVER EVER AGAIN. Be warned, plus they seem unfriendly.

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"VERY bad excursions planned by monkeys in hats (ok not really but you would really start to wonder!!!)"

.........if yes then Airtours may aswell have hired them to take care of our holiday instead of the "Reps" they did!!! I have to clarify, the holiday I went on was an Escapades holiday to Ibiza (a cheaper version of Club 18 - 30 for those who weren't sure!!!). I don't really know where to begin!! The flight was ok........not wow but acceptable. The plane was very cramped but I expected that so can't really complain about that!!! It was when we arrived at the airport that the fun really started!!! We arrived to nothing........no-one was waiting for us.......no reps jumping for joy at the thought of spending a week with us!! NOBODY!!!! We stood for a while and eventually two girls turned up. And walked straight past us!!! We ended up having to go look for them again!! They abviously didn't really care........although I do realise they must have been tired, so were we and it was the last thing we needed!!! Having to chase reps around at some stupid time in the morning was not my ideal start to a holiday I had to work two jobs to pay for!!! We got on the bus and were then again ignored for the remainder of the journey!!! I think the reps may have actually been sleeping in the front!!! We got to the hotel which again was acceptable.......it was dirty though.......I can take basic, I can take old-fashioned but theres no real reason for it to be dirty now is there?!?!? I was so tired by this point I was ready to go home!!! We got up next day ready for the welcome meeting......if you've ever been to a club 18-30 styley welcome meeting you'll know its quite mad........this was NOTHING like that!!! They sat down and read the excursions off a list..........no pizazz...........no va-va-voom..........just reading it out!!! OH MY GOD!!!! We did sign up for the excursions in the end........what a mistake!!! I don't know how much the reps were cashing in on the excursions......must ha ve been quite a bit as we had to walk everywhere......I don't mind the odd walk but having to walk miles in heels when you've paid over the odds for a shitty trip is not amusing!!! The excursions were ok......we didn't go to some of them as they were a bit rubbish.........minimum effort put in on all counts!!! I would like to say I had something nice to say but I've wracked my brains trying to think and come up with nothing!!! The plane was also delayed on the journey home but they can't help that so I won't say too much!! We were provided with a drink and a sandwich as the delay was so long so there is one plus I suppose!! Anybody reading this thinking of spending your hard earned cash on a holiday with Escapades or Airtours all I can say is DON'T DO IT!!!! From what I heard from the families on the bus to the airport the family holidays were just as bad!! You will more than likely regret it and it will spoil your holiday as it did mine!!! (I booked the holiday through Travelworld which were excellent throughout!!!.........I will be writing a comment as soon as I get a chance!!)

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n/a

If you are a little strapped for cash this year but still want to go on holiday or if you are bored with the same level of holiday you get for your price range then get down to your local Going Place and find out what Airtours can do for you. They have a massive 25% off their summer holiday this year so you can't afford not to! I have had experience of Airtours from previous holidays and can do nothing but praise them. They know just how to treat their customers. The flights are comfortable, the reps are friendly and always willing to help and the trips they do are extreamly good value for money when ever and where ever you go. That is not what this is about though. What this is about is the massive saving you could make on your summer holiday this year or like me you could get a much better holiday for the price you usually pay. After September 11th most tour opperators cut back on the number of holidays they were offering this year forseeing the drop in the market. All except Airtours who now have too many holidays and not enough customers. This is always a good thing for us the punters as there are now some great deals about. I have just booked a holiday and saved over £200 and got a flight upgrade (pre booked seats, 1hr before check in, choice of in flight meal and a free drink) and as a result ended up with a holiday that would usually be out of my price range. So if you are looking to go away this summer but haven't got round to booking one yet go and have a look at Airtours you may find the holiday of your dreams for much less than you think. Don't forget Airtours are a great tour opperator to boot!

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Once was enough, you'll never catch me travelling Airtours again. "Fly direct to the Cayman Islands on one of our Boeing 747s" the brochure said. Direct doesn't mean non-stop, it took 13 hours to cross the Atlantic to the Carribbean because we went via Bangor Maine. As for the 747, I learned later that Airtours didn't have a fleet of 747s, they didn't even have one, so we spent 13 hours cramped up on a 757, which is a sort of stretched 727. By the time we arrived we were already sick of Airtours, then the hotel where we had booked a twin room told us they didn't have any twin rooms. This was the Cayman Islander, subject of a separate opinion, and it turned out to be a right dump. I think we saw the rep once for the customary hard-sell of day trips and a glass of weak punch. I'd rather pay the extra few quid to go with Kuoni in future. Sorry it's short but I can't bear to dwell on the memory. Airtours, My Travel or anything else they'd like to call themselves, changing their name will solve nothing until they improve customer service - they are useless.

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I found this new site very useful to use when recently booking a flight to the Costa del Sol. Firstly you have to register with the site but after this it is very easy to log in. You can check holiday and flight availablity on line and book a holiday on-line. You can also access holiday auctions and check out late availablity holidays on this site. You also get a discount by using this on-line service. If you have problems you can always contact Airtours direct by phoneing 0870 238 7777. I would recommend others try this service. I booked the flight 2 weeks before I flew to the Costa Del Sol and had to pick up the tickets at the airport. I did however recieve the Final Invoice on the Thursday before I flew.

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"staff are unwilling

unable to help if a problem arises"

As some of you will know I have just been on holiday. We went to Lloret de Mar in Spain, with Aspro Holidays. Now I know this opinion is supposed to be about Airtours, but Aspro is Airtours. When we booked our holiday, I asked the travel agent “ Its not Airtours is it?” After a quick check I was informed that it wasn’t. It bloody well was… I hate Airtours, especially after this last holiday. I have been with Airtours three times now and they have buggered up my holiday three times now. Let me start with the first holiday we had with them. We went to Costa Del Sol at the south of Spain, to a little place called Peuto Baenus. A lovely little town about 40 miles from Malaga. The problem here was the flight. The flight to the resort was late. 5 hours late and the flight home was also 5 hours late. Okay so this isn’t so bad but it kind of put a dampener on what otherwise was a good holiday. The second time we went with Airtours was over the Christmas period last year. We went to Rochetus del Mar, near to Granada. Again in Spain. Again the problem was with the flight. We arrived at the airport at 4 am as our flight was at 6:20am and booked in. I asked, “is the flight delayed?” I was informed there would be a delay of 20 minutes. Fine, I thought, no problem. Oh! How wrong was I to think that. At 1pm we where still sat in the departure lounge. We had not been told what was going on and we had been hearded to the gates and back to the departure lounge twice. We had been given no explanation as all the information we where given was via the tannoy system. Now, when we did get to see the Airtours rep, she informed us that there had been a problem with not being able to get a plane to the gate. I know this was untrue as I saw my bags going on to the plane at the gate we got on the plane at, at about 4:30 am. So, what was the real cause, I still don’t know to this day. Now luckily I have good insurance (I don’t recommend you use the travel companies insurance as it leans heavily towards them and not you, I speak from past experience), this meant that I got compensation for the first day I lost of my holiday. We should have arrived at the airport at 9:30am instead we got there at 5:30pm. So we effectively lost a days holiday. However, this last holiday with Airtours was a complete and utter disaster. From the moment we left Manchester airport to the moment we arrived back. First off let me say that I did not know that I had booked an Airtours holiday until I actually arrived in Gerona airport and we where met by an Airtours rep. All of our tickets said Aspro, our receipt and booking details said Aspro. The only thing that said Airtours was the flight details. Flying to Gerona flight AIHxxx via Airtours International. You can imagine my horror when I found this out. Anyway we arrived at the resort of Fenals which is a small bay right next to Lloret del mar, or as my wife called it Toilet del mar. The Airtours rep got us off the coach pointed us at reception and then departed. Very convenient. We checked in and went to our room, which didn’t take long, as it was right next to the lift. We went into the room and it was clean so no problem there. We retired for the evening, and where woken shortly after as the lift was used for the first time. At 4am, then 4:28am, 4:40am, etc you get the picture I am sure. Then to cap it all at 8:30am when every body starts to go and get breakfast we can hear the footsteps on the stairs as there only about 4 inches from our heads. We decided to go and get breakfast and went down to the food hall. Now I class myself as a bit of a food expert as I eat quite a lot and a full English is my favourite. Full English was on the self-service menu but I would never in a million years call it that. Have you ever seen bacon with more fat on it then bacon. Me neither up until this moment. The rest of the breakfast was much the same. I now know why the food hall was nearly empty in the morning. The bar next door to the hotel did a roaring trade for breakfasts I can tell you. Next we decided its time to complain to the Airtours rep about our room, having had little or no sleep we where both a bit irritable. We asked the Airtours rep if it was possible to move rooms and the best she could offer us was another room on another floor in the same location. “What’s the point of that then?” I asked. She didn’t reply. Here attitude and comments where “I have offered you another room you can take it or leave it as the hotel is full” My wife then went on a full out offensive as her attitude was pretty bad. She still refused to find us another room even though we shouted at her for over 15 minutes. The male Airtours rep commented that this was one of their better resorts and the food and quality of this hotel was excellent. I had to ask him how many hotels he’d stayed in. “3..” How can you make a comment like that after staying in only 3 hotels. I have travelled lots in my short life and I have stayed in better and worse hotels, but not much worse. Apparently, if they offer you another room and you refuse it they are not at liberty to offer you another one. As you can imagine we where both livid as we had specifically asked for a quiet room when we booked the holiday in February. Apparently this is just a request and the Holiday Company has no obligation to meet these requests. So why do they offer them then?? So we went left the hotel and went to find another one. We found a better hotel with the same facilities but full of older couples rather than families only 200 metres down the road. We even got a room with a sea view, we had a room with a sea view at the Airtours hotel, but you couldn’t see the sea. So we stayed there the whole holiday. It was a better hotel, with better food and most important it was quiet. I don’t know about you but I go on holiday to relax and always choose a quiet hotel, which is why we chose this one as the brochure said it was a quiet hotel, in a peaceful location which would ideally suit retired or elderly couples. Ideal for me, and my wife. We both prefer a quieter hotel. I am not saying I think family hotels are bad but I have no kids or my own and this is a decision me and my wife have made, therefore I don’t want to have to put up with the children of others for the duration of my holiday. After all we all go on holiday to relax. I have seen parents leave there children alone whilst they go off to the local pub. This leaves their little brats to run riot, as there is no disciplinary figure around to look after them. Whilst in Benidorm last year I heard a parent say “You stay here as me and your mum are going shopping, if you have a problem go and see the lifeguard” How irresponsible. Plus it’s not the lifeguard’s job to look after the children of others. If anything had gone wrong the parents definitely wouldn’t be blaming themselves either, more likely the hotel!. (Please note: I was being polite here!). Anyway. We enjoyed our holiday at the non-Airtours hotel and are awaiting pickup for return to the airport. We arrived early, About 9pm for pick up at 11:20pm. We sat near the door so we could see the coach arrive or hear the rep shouting for us. At 11:30pm I am starting to panic a bit as the coach hasn’t shown up. At 11:50pm I am really panicking but I ask the rep on the next coach along “Where is the coach for Manchester?” “Oh! Its was late leaving the last hotel it will be here soon” The next coach arrives. No sorry this coach is for Bristol the Manchester coach was late leaving the last hotel, it will be along soon” ; The truth is the coach has already gone. I did try to phone the Airtours 24 hour information line at this time, but having tried from my mobile and not getting even a ringing tone I tried from the hotel phone and got the same thing. No ringing. What a useful help line! Now, we have to get a taxi to the airport. £24 down the toilet. Now on arrival at the airport, I approach the rep responsible for the areas our hotel was in, explain the situation and he goes off to ask the rep in charge of our coach. Me “Where was the coach” Rep “Well sir, she says the coach did arrive on time and she did shout your names” Me “If you shouted our names why didn’t we hear her. We where right by the door?” Rep “Well she says she did shout you but you didn’t respond” Me getting a bit mad now “Nobody shouted us, as the tickets where in my wives name and her surname is very unusual and I am damn sure we would have heard it” Rep “Well we always shout people if they aren’t waiting for the coach” This conversation lasted for over 20 minutes and they wrote out a complains form out but I bet I never hear anything back. It was basically her word against mine. Now I have nothing to loose by lying, so I didn’t. What would she have to loose? Hmmm! Her job, maybe. I am completely and utterly unimpressed with the levels of service and responsibility of the reps at his resort and with Airtours in general. They say in their brochure they pride themselves on the quality of there holidays, but having pride in something as bad as this isn’t worth having pride in. I will never, ever, ever book another Airtours holiday. The holidays offered by this company maybe cheap but they are definitely not cheerful.

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"forget to provide basic information"

My husband and I have recently returned from Turkey. We bought the holiday off Lastminute.com but it was an Airtours holiday so we ended up dealing with them. They failed to do a number of things which niggled at me and made me think they were not doing their job properly. 1: Turkey has an entrance visa of 10£. Airtours made no mention of this, in Canada whenever I made travel arrangements I would be told what paperwork I needed. Had we not spoken to friends we never would have known. 2: Air conditioning. Our brochure said air conditioning was included in the hotel room. We arrived, tried to work the machine and discovered it didn't work... why? Because it needed a remote control, which the manager of the hotel was happy to give us, for 15£. I tried to complain, but the airtours rep was no where to be found. 3: Scare tactics to make you buy their trips. We had a welcome meeting at 11am, 4 hours after we arrived in Turkey. Groggily we climbed out of bed and discovered that Airtours sold trips. 'Now' the rep said, 'our trips may be more expensive, but we are fully insured, and many tour operators in Turkey aren't and this will invalidate your travel insurance ...' and basically if you don't buy our trips, then if you plunge to uncertain fate then the costs of repairing you will be huge. She also lied about the travel distance. One trip we booked for was 5 1/2 hours travel each way, but she had said 3 hours. Several people on the bus complained about this fact. Later on in the week, we booked two trips from other providers and discovered that not only were they cheaper, they were better, gave you a free lunch, a discount for buying more than one trip, and were insured up to the hilt. 4: The planes are tiny. Now I'm about 5 foot ten, but of reasonable body size. Their leg room was so tiny that when the woman in front of me put her seat back she nearly popped both my knee caps off. Thanks ai rtours! The food by the way was really foul.

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I took the decision this year to book a package tour via Airtours. As it was our only holiday planned for this year we did book on their premium package to ensure a greater level of comfort. The holiday was a two week trip to Cyprus staying at the Coral Bay Hotel in Coral Beech. The hotel was excellent with the accommodation and food being really good. The reps from Airtours were very professional and did a good job whilst we were there. We booked four excursions, including a trip to Egypt, which all ran smoothly and efficiently. The only problem we found was on the return trip to the airport. As it was a premium package we were getting picked up by taxi. Unfortunately the communication of the pick up time was poor and we had to chase tham for it. When the taxi arrived they didn't speak English and there was no rep around so it made it confusing as they weren't sure who they were picking up. One family were late so their taxi left and therefore we were all delayed. Then once we were in the taxi we stopped at another hotel to pick up more people which resulted in their suitcase being attached to the roof - no there wasn't a roof rack. All this resulted in us arriving at the airport after all the coaches - we had hoped that we would have got their early as my wife is not that fond of flying and therefore we need to sit together. So overall the holiday was great but it was sad that the trip back to the airport left us disappointed.

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I have travelled twice with Airtours: first in Dec. 2000 when I took 2 of my children to Florida. The only noticeable part of the trip was the Airtours plane which was o.k.; the sound system was faulty so the only way to hear the film was to broadcast it to the plane, o.k. for those who wanted to hear and same on buying headsets but pretty awful for anyone who wanted to sleep. Otherwise I wasn't aware that Airtours had anything to do with the holiday and I never saw a rep. The second time was on a skiing trip to Livigno (I have written an opinion on that already), the Airtours element was adequate. The flight was uneventful and the inflight catering was very tasty (unusual that even for a scheduled flight). The rep was concerned with selling trips and encouraging visitors to the ski-shop he worked at during the week and telling people about bars and wasn't helpful about other local knowledge. He was totally unhelpful about the fact that the coach driver drove with one hand holding a mobile phone to his ear and let go of the steering wheel to change gear. I have been happy with the overall Airtours holiday package but that could be partly because the two holidays were very cheap and one's expectations are bound to be lower.

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We have just returned from an Airtours Holiday which can only be refered to as the holiday with the return journey from hell. I would like to begin by saying that the holiday itself was lovely, the aparthotel Bouganvilla Playa in Sa Coma Mayorca is an ideal location for families who want a resort full of entertainment for their young family. The airtours reps on the site go out of their way to provide a quality show each evening which is great for the kids and professionaly staged in their 'big top' setting. Their downfall came during a crisis, in this case the Coach drivers strike. The organisation of taxi's from the hotel to the airport was poorly organised as everyone was expected to be in the reception 8 hours prior to their flight time even though many were sitting there for four hours before getting in a taxi. (even if this was the middle of the night) There was no offer of child seats for infants in the taxi's so they were expected to sit on parents knee's no matter how small. (illegal in this country) At the airport itself the Airtours desk was surrounded by angry' guests as there was no forthcoming information at all. Our flight was indefinately delated and we had NO information about how long we were expected to sit on the airport floor for! It wasn't Airtours fault that the coach drivers were striking but the bizzare thing was that the only 'delayed indefinately' flights were Airtours ones, all other flights on the board had take off times! Why didn't we? Where was our plane? they couldn't tell us!! The supply of provisions was very good i.e. nappies, water, milk, drinks and KFC for everyone, this took away some of the concern of being in an airport with a 20 month old child and a four year old! They took us to another hotel in Palma over Sunday night after 12 hours in the airport which was handled fairly efficiently, but still no information! The next morning, fo ur different flight times were quoted before we got on the plane and then we were sent to Manchester airport instead of Birmingham where we had taken off from!! Another bit of organisation required for the onward journey by coach. The coaches weren't waiting for us when we got through arrivals, another wait of 20 minutes!! Why weren't they there they new we were coming in surely it had been 37 hours since we left our hotel!! Finally back to our car at Birmingham and the reassuring journey back home. Airtours take zero responsibility for all of the delay and won't be paying out any compenstaion for loss of earnings on the Monday, or wasted childcare costs, etc. etc. The problem throughout the whole experience was the lack of communication from Airtours and the strange situation of the Airtours flights being the only indefinately delayed ones. WHY!!???? I will never travel with Airtours again as in my opinion they are great when the going is good, which I am sure is most of the time but in a crisis they really let themselves down.